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Matthew Murdock (Earth-61610)
Matthew "Matt" Murdock, J.D., is a lawyer in the Hell's Kitchen of Earth-61610. He is also the vigilante (Marvel) Daredevil, who fights crime with the aid of superhuman senses to compensate for his blindness. Biography Childhood and Going Blind A lifelong resident of Hell's Kitchen, New York, Matt was raised by his father alone, his mother having left after his birth to become a nun. His father, a boxer by the name of Jack Murdock, was continually depressed by his own position in life and encouraged Matt to strive for a better career. In an attempt to make ends meet, "Battlin' Jack" began negotiating with the Irish Mob, deliberately throwing fights for money. At the age of twelve, Matt began killing spare time outside the docks, where he would watch workers load and unload shipments from large ships on the other side of the seawall surrounding Manhattan Island. He would later learn that many of these shipments were illegal. On one such day, a shipment of chemical drums were loaded onto a semitruck which collided with a taxi and careened onto the sidewalk; thinking quickly, Matt shoved an elderly man out of the way of the collision and was hit in the face by a spilling chemical drum. Onlookers could only watch as, shrieking in pain, Matt's eyes burned and blistered from the chemical. At the hospital later, it was confirmed that the unknown chemical had gotten at least as far back as his optic nerves, damaging them beyond repair and rendering Matt ineligable for the cybernetic replacements of the time. Matt was thoroughly, permanently blind. Development As Jack began working twice as hard in an attempt to pay for Matt's hospital bill on top of supporting him day-to-day, Matt was shocked and disturbed to find his remaining senses slowly growing more sensitive. He found himself capable of making out the sound of a heartbeat from twenty feet away through a wall, or of smelling the copper in the air produced by an open wound. The texture of his clothing became increasingly abrasive to the touch. Terrified by these sensations, Matt attempted for a time to ignore them, but was made aware of his father's deals with the Irish Mob by his enhanced hearing. At Matt's veiled suggestion and appeal to honor, Jack attempted to dissolve his mob connections and refused to throw further fights. He was murdered when this resulted in a net loss for the mob. Taken to Saint Anges' Orphanage, Matt was eventually overwhelmed by both grief over his father's death and his developing super-senses. It was here that he was discovered by a man simply known as Stick. Blind since birth, Stick had mysteriously acquired training in compensating with his other senses, gymnastics, and multiple martial arts, and he now set to work passing this training onto Matt. Under Stick's instruction, young Murdock learned to master his hyperactive senses, raising his situational awareness to superhuman levels and allowing him to perceive his environment with as much clarity, and greater understanding, than he could before being blinded. He also rapidly mastered jujitsu and krav maga, Unfortunately, circumstances (and developing familial affection) prompted Stick to sever all connection with his student, and, his training incomplete and another father figure gone, Matt grew up with lingering frustration and abandonment issues. Category:Versions of Daredevil Category:Lawyers Category:Blind Characters Category:Super Senses Category:Vigilantes Category:Earth-61610